"White Collared Terror Gang" .. Is it a new model ? High-intensity explosion near Delhi's Red Fort ... was perhaps "accidental and due to panic" as probes started way back on Oct 18th

Sinister planners and executors -- 

are from Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH), an offshoot of ISIS in India, and the globally banned Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

The comprehensive investigation underway by multiple agencies and police in Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir among others reveal a "white collar terror ecosystem" -- involving radicalised professionals and students.

It's all a matter of deep concern because; these individuals and professionals were "in contact with foreign handlers, operating from Pakistan and other countries,” said a statement from the Jammu and Kashmir police.

Among those arrested following a 15-day operation were Kashmir’s Dr Muzammil Ganaie in Faridabad and Lucknow’s Dr Shaheen who was brought by air to Srinagar for custodial interrogation, officials said. 

An AK-47 rifle was found in her car.

 Eight people including three doctors were arrested and 2,900 kg of explosives seized with the dismantling of a “white collar” terror module involving the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind and spanning Kashmir, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Monday.

It said the group has been using encrypted channels for indoctrination, coordination, fund movement and logistics.

Al-Falah University and its 76-acre sprawling campus in the Muslim-dominated Dhauj village in Haryana's Faridabad district have come under the scanner following the arrest of three doctors in connection with the "white-collar terror module".

With educated individuals found to be "acting at the behest of Pakistan-backed handlers", investigators are scrutinising how the university turned into a safe haven for such individuals.

Investigators claim that the explosion was triggered in panic and desperation after raids by the security agencies across multiple locations in Delhi-NCR and Pulwama to nab suspects believed to be part of the terror module.

"The suspect was likely spooked after the raid in Faridabad, which forced him to relocate hastily, increasing the chance of a mishap. The incident appears to have shifted from a suspected suicide attack to an unintended explosion during transport," a senior police officer said.

Police said on October 19, multiple JeM posters were found pasted at different locations in Bunpora Nowgam area threatening and intimidating police and security forces.

This was a middle-class neighbourhood on the periphery of Srinagar.

That was the starting point of the investigation, leading to the unravelling of the inter-state terror network.

The accused were found involved in identifying persons, to radicalise, initiate and recruit them to terrorist ranks, besides raising funds, arranging logistics, procurement of arms/ammunition and material for preparing IEDs.

On the night of October 18, Jammu & Kashmir police learnt of posters pasted on the walls of houses in Nowgam, a middle-class neighbourhood on the periphery of Srinagar. Written in Urdu, the posters warned of imminent “spectacular attacks” on security forces and outsiders (non-natives) in Kashmir.

On October 19, the police lodged an FIR under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and began investigations. Police scoured CCTV footage and picked up three young men, who confessed to having put up the posters at the behest of Moulvi Irfan, an Imam (cleric) at a mosque in Srinagar’s Chanpora.

Irfan, from Shopian in South Kashmir, was known to the police as an instigator and organiser of stone-pelting, the most frequent form of violent protests in the Valley prior to 2019.

The 2,900 kg of explosive material includes ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate and sulphur. Of this, 360 kg of inflammable material suspected to be ammonium nitrate and some arms and ammunition were recovered from Ganaie rented accommodation in Faridabad, said a statement from the Jammu and Kashmir police.  

The recoveries from various places include a Chinese Star pistol with ammunition,

 a Beretta pistol with ammunition, 

an AK 56 rifle with ammunition, 

an AK Krinkov rifle with ammunition as well as explosives, chemicals, reagents, inflammable material, electronic circuits, batteries, wires, remote control, timers and metal sheets, it said.

Ganaie, a teacher at the Al Falah University in the Haryana town abutting New Delhi, was arrested after Jammu and Kashmir police named him as a wanted person in a case involving putting up posters supporting the Jaish-e-Mohammed in Srinagar. 

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At the global level Isis’s attitude to using women as fighters has evolved, and varies according to local circumstances. 

Female recruits have not taken up combat roles in areas the group controls in Iraq and Syria but are increasingly deployed tactically, or at least encouraged to execute terrorist operations in Europe and elsewhere. 

An alleged terrorist cell dismantled in Morocco a few years back included women.

The research by Finn Church Aid, a Finnish NGO, also found that economic factors were important in drawing people in north-east Nigeria into extremist violence.